TROTZENDORF, VALENTIN. – Protestant educationalist, whose true surname was Friedland, but who was known by that of T., taken from the village (today Troitschendorf, near Görlitz) where he was born on 14 February 1490; he died at Liegnitz on 26 August 1556.
He studied Greek and Latin at the University of Leipzig and theology at Wittenberg under Luther and Melanchthon, of whom he was always a vigorous defender. Appointed rector of the school of Goldberg in 1524, he directed it, apart from brief intervals, almost until his death, winning it a European reputation and attracting pupils from every nation. And Melanchthon, full of admiration, used to say that T. was made to direct colleges, just as Scipio Africanus was made to command armies.
The school, divided into six classes, followed the humanist model, and only Latin was used in speech. T.’s bold innovation, still fruitfully employed in various countries today, consisted in “governing the school through the pupils themselves,” organizing it according to the model of the Roman Republic. From among the older pupils he selected the “economi,” who were to supervise order, discipline, and observance of the timetable; the “ephori,” who dealt with meals, assisted by the “discophori,” who took care of the dishes; and the “quaestors,” one for each class, who supervised the practices of worship and school activities. At the head of the Republic stood T. as “dictator perpetuus,” though he shared the government with a Senate composed of one consul, two censors, and twelve senators, elected by him each month, who constituted the court for punishments. The spirit of the school was deeply Christian and fraternal, with absolute equality among the various social classes. As for the subjects taught, alongside religion and the careful study of Latin there were Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, astronomy, and music. The pedagogical rule was: few and brief rules, practical examples, numerous exercises, and a small number of authors studied in depth rather than many examined superficially. Yet amid this entire combination of excellent rules and arrangements there were too many personal features, dependent upon T.’s active and eminently organizational character; consequently, after his death the institution did not endure. He nevertheless remains one of the most significant educationalists of the sixteenth century. His principal works were: Cathechesis (Wittenberg 1558), a catechism in questions and answers; Rosarium (there 1565), a collection of maxims taken from the Bible and accompanied by commentary; Praecationes (there 1564), a collection of prayers for morning and evening and for Sundays and feast days.